Ordering a state championship banner is a snap for Regis Athletic Director Don Heuberger, even with a new sales representative from award supplier Neff.

He sent an email Monday, requesting another banner for the girls basketball team, and referred his rep to his past orders.

She sent back a congratulatory email, mentioned how Regis has had quite a run, and attached a photo of the banner he ordered last year just for verification: A 4-by-6-foot banner in the school colors of green and gold with white lettering.

"That's exactly it," Heuberger responded. "Just put a 2014 on it."

Neff might consider mass-producing these Regis banners and just leaving the year and sport blank, because winning state championships has become a tradition for the private Catholic school in Stayton.

Regis won its fifth consecutive state championship in girls basketball this past weekend and its 42nd state championship overall in all sports.

"It's hard to wrap your head around it," Rams' point guard Jesse Morris said, "but it's the best feeling in the world."

She and her teammates don't use the D word, as in dynasty, but they heard the chants in the final seconds of their 36-29 victory over Western Mennonite in the title game Saturday in Pendleton.

In this case the label is deserved. Based on my research, Regis has accomplished what only one other Oregon high school basketball program has — at any level, girls or boys. Oregon City also won five straight titles in girls basketball from 1994 to 1998.

A spokesman for the OSAA, the governing body of high school athletics in Oregon, didn't know where Regis' streak stood in the annals of state basketball. He sent me to the online archives, where I found state champion lists for boys and girls. It was a chore to look through considering all the changes in classifications over the years.

Regis, for example, started its streak by winning the Class 3A title in 2010. Its past four titles have come at the 2A level.

Winning a state title at any level is an accomplishment. Doing it five years in a row is remarkable. I know as a former basketball player how hard it is to get to the state tournament, let alone win the darned thing. My alma mater, Sweet Home, has made just two state appearances, the first coming my senior year.

And I know as a former sportswriter, who covered a few high school tournaments in my day, it isn't easy to repeat, let alone repeat four times. You have to have talent, including a strong youth program to draw from, and good coaching, with a proven system to rely on. Regis has it all.

You also need a little luck. A contender is always just an injury away from mediocrity, and Regis is fortunate to have been virtually injury free during its five-year reign, which includes a 135-13 record.

Expectations were sky-high this season, even though Kyle Tower and Dustin Lulay were in their first year as co-head coaches. They had experience as assistants under Jeff and Jason Koehnke, the father-son duo that guided the Rams to four titles, and a roster full of players returning from the 2013 championship team.

"We told them to win again we had to be better than last year," Tower said. "They worked really hard to get better."

Led by four seniors — Morris, identical twins Beth and Becca Lorenz, and Kimberly Webb — the Rams went 28-2 and survived what they consider their most difficult defense of their title.

"There was a lot more pressure on them than people realize," Heuberger said. "Those girls wanted to go out winners."

Morris is the only player to have been a part of the past four championships.

"This one is definitely the most emotional because it's the last one," she said. "They have progressively gotten better."

Winning state championships is part of the tradition at Regis, which has a current enrollment of 171. It's worth repeating that it now has 42 state titles across all sports. The girls basketball team isn't even the first program to win five straight. The football team did that from 1973 to 1977. The boys basketball team won three in a row from 2003 to 2005.

Championship banners hang from the rafters the length of the gymnasium on both sides. A second row had to be started on the West side, which is where the latest banner will go.

Heuberger said it will take two to four weeks for the order to be completed. Neff banners, his rep informed me, are constructed by hand by dedicated craftsmen. I guess that means mass production, even for a perennial champion like Regis, is out of the question.

"Forward This" appears Wednesdays and Sundays and highlights the people, places and organizations of the Mid-Willamette Valley. Contact Capi Lynn at clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6710, or follow her the rest of the week at Facebook.com/CapiLynnSJ.